LIFE and stuff
by high off of strawberry pocky12
Summary: Life is difficult, being young and free is difficult. College hard, work mindless, love is sometimes painful. Roxas and his cousin Sora move into the apartment across the hall from Axel and Riku. Friendships are made, love developed, ducks are adopted. AU AkuRoku, SoRiku, Zemyx with a bit of crack.


**Whaaaat? A new story? From MEEEE? Yeah. My house hold recently purchased a copy of KH 2.5 which has sparked and rekindled my love for this fandom. So here I am, with a new story; the exciting thing is...it isn't like my other stories at all. It will have romance, it will have comedy, it will have crack at times! ALSO I will warn you now; I was inspired by the show F.R.I.E.N.D.S so it may have a little bit of that vibe. **

**As for my story crooked (if you read my other stories.) I'm discontinuing it; if you want to know why; you can ask. ANYWAY lets get to this story; I'm to excited to put it out in the world! **

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**The One With a Duck:**

There was something about working that made Riku's stomach churn. It wasn't that he disliked working; in fact he didn't mind it all that much. It was the fact that he was granted with the unfortunate task of working the opening shift of Hallow Bastion Bagels.

The morning shift shouldn't be all that bad; one might think. All he'd lose is the opportunity to sleep in; but the truth is, it's much more than that. HBB opens at the ungodly hour of 6 a.m. If Riku wanted to come across even slightly presentable for the next six to eight hours, he had to wake up at the torturous time of 5 a.m. So why work at a place with such unreasonable hours? Well the pay was good, it's close to his apartment, and it's close to his university campus. That's why every morning when his phone wails obnoxiously loud beeping sounds; Riku pulls himself out of bed and proceeds to work with only mild irritation.

This brings us to Riku's current situation. At the lovely hour of 5:35 in the morning, he was hoping to grab a poptart before starting his 10 minute journey to work. With the way his kitchen and living room looked; it seemed he would have to find a new plan. You see Riku –being a poor college student— had a roommate. One that he could tolerate, in fact he considered him to be quite a good friend most of the time. His name was Axel; Axel was a…outrageous sort. He also worked at HBB though during the later hours; and there was a good reason for that.

Axel was an insomniac; something most people wouldn't care about really. Because of his insomnia; Riku –at times—would wake up to what he woke up too this morning. His apartment trashed, and what feels like a million strange people asleep in various places. It didn't happen all the time, in fact it rarely happened. Despite Axel's appearance, the eccentric redhead wasn't all that fond of parties. He also wasn't fond of cleaning; so when these parties happened, it was usually Riku who had to clean up after them.

Riku let out one of the most annoyed sighs that he had ever produced from his lungs. He marched over to the snoring redhead that was passed out on the couch. He grabbed a couch pillow that had fallen on the floor and smacked Axel across the face.

Axel grunted, waking up quite easily. That was one of the unfortunate things about his insomnia; it took him forever to fall asleep, and hardly any effort to wake him. "What the hell Riku, I was actually getting some sleep."

Riku scoffed and motioned to the trashed apartment. "Look at this place." He kicked a nearby beer can to emphasize his point. "I refuse to clean this Axel! I hope that party was worth it, because I expect this place to be clean by the time I get home."

Axel groaned sitting up and cracking many joints as he did. "But I work at 8! I'd have to start now." He pouted.

Riku shrugged; "oh well. Get the hell up and start cleaning." He sighed and looked at his phone; he had to leave now; meaning he would snag a bagel from work for breakfast. He was so looking forward to that poptart too. "I'm serious Axel Catelani; I want this place spotless when I get home!" He yelled running out of the apartment, not forgetting to slam the door behind him for a bit of dramatics.

0-0-0

By the time 8 o'clock rolled around; Riku had calmed down increasingly. He complained loudly about having to work at such a horrendous time in the morning; but he rather enjoyed it. The first few hours were quite slow. Only the very few early birds came in, the rush wouldn't start until about 9. This gave Riku time to think and enjoy the mornings.

So when a certain red headed insomniac waltzed in; he only got a minor glare from Riku. "I hope the apartment is clean." He said sipping his much needed coffee, hoping to get a bit of caffeine into his system before the rush began.

Axel scoffed pulling on his apron before grabbing his usual 3 cheese bagel. "Of course, I knew you'd kick my ass if I didn't." He slathered the inside of his bagel with cream cheese before hopping up on the counter next to Riku.

Working at HBB was nice; the boss was decently chill; he didn't really care what his employees did. As long as the shop was kept clean and the customers got helped in a timely and respectful manner. The best thing was he gave his employees one bagel and coffee each shift. He figured that if his employees knew what they liked, they could better help the customers. Riku figures it's because he was sick of everyone showing up early in the morning starving.

Riku finished off his coffee and tossed his cup in the trash. "You're right about that one. I would have kicked your ass; you've got to stop trashing our apartment out of pure boredom. You hate parties."

Axel shrugged mouth full of bagel. "There is only so much a guy can do at 1 in the morning in this little town."

Axel had a point; though Radiant Garden had one of the best colleges around, it wasn't set up like a college town at all. Most shops closed early, and there was virtually zero night life. Though the small amount of night life that did exist was impressive to Riku; coming from a small island and all.

Riku looked over when the chime above the door jingled, signaling that someone had entered HBB. "Get off the counter Axel, we have customers." He said before retreating into the back of the shop.

Axel grunted jumping off the counter, mouth full of bagel. When he caught glimpse of the two boys who walked into the shop, he quickly swallowed and plastered on a huge grin. The two boys were adorable, in the pinch your cheek, squishy kind of way.

Sora looked around the small bagel shop as he followed Roxas in. The small island of Destiny didn't have bagel shops. Sure you could find bagels at the only grocery store in town; but nothing like this. You could get a total of two kinds of bagels; white and whole wheat.

In fact Destiny Island didn't have a lot of things; bagel shops, coffee shops or café's. His cousin Roxas was from Twilight Town; so a bagel shop was nothing new to the blonde. You could only imagine the annoyance the blonde felt as his cousin begged him to stop and get bagels before they started unpacking their moving truck. Lucky for Sora, the movers were going to be an hour late.

Roxas followed Sora up to the front counter; where a tall redhead was, with the stupidest smile stretching across his face. Roxas had no idea why, but he had the urge to punch the redhead. Maybe it was the stress of moving; yeah he was going to blame the stress.

Sora however, was excited as he approached the redhead; an equally large smile graced his face. "Good morning!" He greeted the redhead. He bounced on the balls of his feet as he examined the many bagel choices. Who knew there were so many verities? Who thought of half of this? Blueberry, asiago, sesame, cranberry, cinnamon sugar; there were so many that he didn't know what to choose.

Axel examined the two boys as the brunette mumbled to himself about the overwhelming amount of options he was presented with. The brunette seemed a little airheaded and full of energy. The blonde looked the complete opposite. He looked like he would rather be anywhere else than the bagel shop. He definitely seemed to have the personality that compelled Axel to tease the shit out of them.

"Holly Chocobo!" The brunette shouted out all of a sudden; causing Axel to jump a little. "You have chocolate chip bagels? There is such a thing?"

Axel chuckled a little. "We sure do kid. They taste pretty good, if I do say so myself."

Sora nodded; "definitely want one of those, no two please; with plain cream cheese."

Axel nodded and looked at the blonde; "and for you?"

Roxas looked a bit annoyed that he was asked to order. Then again, there hadn't been a moment since stepping into the shop where Roxas hadn't look annoyed. "Asiago with plain cream cheese and a house coffee please; I'll need the caffeine." He mumbled the last part. Axel laughed a little telling them the price and collecting the money. He watched them go find a seat as he made their bagels.

"So tell me…" Axel said placing Roxas' and Sora's bagels in front of them. He pulled a chair over and sat down next to the boys. "What brings you to Radiant Garden?" Axel was the nosey type; especially when it came to attractive, breathing humans.

Roxas gave Axel a curious look. Neither had mentioned anything at any point about being new to town. So either this Axel person knew everyone in town, or he was taking a wild guess. "How did you…"

Axel glanced out the front windows where Roxas' old car was parked out in front of the curb. The car was packed with boxes. "Well unless you often drive around time with boxes…and your friend was a little TOO excited about bagels."

Sora laughed a little munching on his bagel. "Maybe I have a bagel obsession." Ignoring Sora's comment Roxas shrugged; so maybe the redhead wasn't a total creep. Total being the key word here; he was a little creepy.

Axel hummed; "well?"

Roxas gave him another interesting look; he seemed to be handing these out a lot that day. "Right your question…school of course. We start at RGU in a few weeks."

Axel hummed; he had forgotten about that thing called school. He himself dropped out of college in order to peruse his dream of becoming a hot rock star. Until his break into fame, he unfortunately had to work at the bagel shop. Nevertheless he and Demyx were working hard on their music; they were going to catch a big break soon. He could feel it in his gut.

"That's cool." Axel said leaning his chair back on the back legs; a habit he's had since child hood. He could almost hear his mother yelling at him 'four on the floor Axel! FOUR ON THE FLOOR!' Instead there was Riku yelling at him as he came back out to the front.

"What the hell are you doing Axel?" Riku said walking over to the redhead; ready to pull him back behind the counter by his ear. It wasn't unusual for Riku to find Axel slacking off at one of the tables. Axel didn't get a lot of sleep; so he often found him asleep at one of the tables.

Riku eyed the two boys sitting at the table with Axel curiously; in turn they eyed the silverette back. "Friends of yours, Axel?"

Axel grinned; "yep! This is "bouncy happy brunette" and his friend "I'm grumpy and if looks could kill, mine would have stabbed you in the face blondie."

This made Sora laugh and Roxas scowl; he was not grumpy, just stressed. "The name is Sora and that is Roxas." Sora corrected the redhead. "We're moving into Oblivion apartments…I kinda forced Roxas to stop here, that's why he is grumpy."

Roxas pouted a little, once again someone called him grumpy; he wasn't grumpy. Though Sora wasn't wrong; he was kind of annoyed that he was there. The bagel was delicious and the coffee was good; so he couldn't be too annoyed. It saved him the trouble of finding a place to get a good cup of coffee later on.

Axel leaned forward; his chair thumping back to the ground. "Seriously; that's where we live!" He exclaimed with a little too much enthusiasm. "Apartment 305!"

Riku sighed at his roommate that had a little too much energy for a guy with no sleep. "Thanks Axel; it's not as enough strangers know where we live…"

His comment was ignored as Sora's face lit up with excitement mirroring the redhead's. "Really; we're neighbor's man, we're in apartment 306!"

Roxas sighed a little; he could already picture all the future headaches after finding out this information.

Axel stood up when this middle aged business man type guy walked interrupting the excitement. He looked a little lost. "Can I help you sir?" Axel asked; the guy looked over at Axel a little out of place.

"Yes actually; I was wondering if someone knew the bus schedule…."

0-0-0

After they finished moving everything into their apartment; Roxas went to take a nap. When he woke up, he was not expecting to walk out of his room and find his apartment completely empty. Sora wasn't afraid of leaving the apartment or anything. Being from a small town on an island, he got a little overwhelmed in large cities for the first few days. So yes—Roxas was little surprised to find his brunette cousin missing.

The first thing he did was search every nook and cranny of the apartment. For some reason the idea of the brunette squeezing himself into one of these places and getting stuck didn't surprise him. But after over turning everything he was nowhere to be found.

In the far of distance; Roxas picked up the sound of Sora's laughter. At least he knew the brunette wasn't lost in the city crying in a corner after wandering off alone. Roxas shook his head and followed the sound of Sora's boisterous laugher—which lead him across the hall to apartment 305.

He knocked on the door like any other decent human being; only opening the door when Axel's distinctive voice called for him to come in. He looked around the apartment; impressed that it was clean. He was expecting dishes to be piled up in the sink; and trash to be over running the small apartment.

He looked over to Sora; who was sitting next to Axel on an old beaten up couch. Riku was sitting in an arm chair to the right of them. They were watching TV; from the looks of it...F.R.I.E.N.D.S to be more specific.

"Friends?" He questioned walking in and shutting the door. He had nothing against the 90s sitcom; in fact he was quite fond of it. The redhead however didn't seem like the sitcom type.

Axel shrugged at the blonde's confusion. "It's the only thing we can get on TV believe it or not."

Riku scoffed folding his arms. "We don't have TV. This is Axel's personal collection; he owns all of the seasons."

Okay so maybe the redhead had a soft spot for the show. He couldn't help it; something about the show evoked strange emotions from the redhead. He had the series pretty much memorized.

Axel shrugged; he wasn't going to deny his addiction to the show. "Come take a seat Roxy; things are just getting good."

Roxas rolled his eyes at the nickname, taking a seat next to Sora. Roxas was used to the obnoxious nick name. He had come to terms long ago with the fact that no matter where he went, there was going to be someone who called him that.

After Roxas sat down; the four of them succumbed to a comfortable silence. A small chuckle or laugh would escape one of them randomly. Needless to say, when the apartment door came swinging open with a loud crash. They all jumped out of their skin. The four of them looked towards the door at the rowdy blonde that came in like a bulldozer.

"I have amazing news!" Demyx cheered waving a piece of paper in the air. He leaped over Roxas and Sora to land gracefully in Axel's lap. "We have a gig!" He half sang to the redhead; gingerly rubbing the paper against Axel's cheek.

Demyx was a bizarre fellow; he was what you called a free spirit. He lived his life to his own beat; believed in equality to all living things. That and the government was trying to control your brain with all the chemicals they put in food. Needless to say he was a crazy hippy who smelled like whole food stores. He was Axel's best friend and his behavior didn't faze Axel or Riku. Roxas and Sora however stared at the dirty blonde with large slightly frightened eyes.

Axel grinned wrapping his arms around Demyx and standing up. "Really; you're not kidding right Dem?"

Demyx shook his head; his own grin permanently etched onto his face. "Not at all Axy-poo; we have an actual paying gig!"

Axel let out an excited whoop and started spinning his band mate in circles. This caused Riku and the cousins to cower in fear of getting smacked in the face with Demyx's feet.

"As excited I am for you guys, I would like not to be smacked in the face." Riku said having escaped to behind his precious chair.

Axel laughed and placed Demyx down on the ground. He couldn't help it; he was super excited. Sure they had played many shows. Never have they ever been paid to do it though. So the idea of being paid to play his music was exciting. "Sorry guys."

He sat back down on the couch next to Sora. Demyx made himself home on the floor, seeing as how there was nowhere else to sit and Riku didn't appreciate him sitting on his table.

Sora looked over at the redhead; "you're in a band?" Axel nodded; "yours truly is the sexy vocalist, Dem here is the genius guitarist."

Demyx flashed them a grin. It was then he realized he didn't know the two guys sitting on the couch. "Wait, I don't know you dudes."

Riku rolled his eyes; "you just realized this Demyx? This is Sora and Roxas; they just moved into the apartment across the hall."

Demyx grinned again. "Coolio; I live on the floor under this one. 217, if you need something, don't hesitate to ask me. Unless it's before 1 in the afternoon; then don't need me."

Sora laughed; he could already tell he would get along well with this guy. With upbeat attitudes, they both seemed to live to their own rhythm. Roxas on the other hand; didn't have an opinion really. After he got his nap, his earlier stress and irritation dissipated. He was back to his normal 'who gives a shit' attitude. What could he say? He turned into a bitch when tired.

"So when is the gig Dem?" Axel asked; turning off the long forgotten episode of friends. Demyx grinned handing over the paper he had been diligently carrying with him since receiving it.

"Here are all the details."

Axel read over the paper and hummed. "A week Dem? Geese you don't like to give us a lot of time to practice. Looks like we'll have to practice until we can't practice anymore."

Roxas frowned; he had heard a few rumors about Axel. That he randomly like to throw parties; which he will admit made him nervous. He liked to sleep; and living across the hall from that didn't sound all that pleasant. So the idea of the redhead and dirty blonde practicing across the hall all week didn't sound exciting. "You're not practicing here are you?"

Axel laughed; "You honestly think we could get away with practicing in an apartment building? No, our band mate Zexion lives in the basement of a house; we usually practice there."

Roxas nodded feeling a little relieved that he wouldn't have to deal with hours of loud music coming from across the hall.

0-0-0

Riku yawned walking down the seemingly never ending hallway after his shift on that Sunday. He hated Sunday shifts; unlike most places, HBB was busiest on Sunday. For some reason that's when everyone decided they wanted bagels. It didn't help that Axel was distracted with thoughts of his upcoming gig. Needless to say, Riku was exhausted and was looking forward to a nap.

He stopped a few feet away from his apartment door, because across the hall Sora was crouched down in front of his own apartment; mumbling. "Um Sora…" Riku called out to the brunette.

Sora stood up quickly, hiding something behind his back. He looked extremely suspicious. "H-Hey Riku! Back from work already? How'd it go? I was gonna come down and get a bagel, but Roxas refused to get up; and well you know I get lost so easily on my own…"

Riku quirked an eyebrow at the brunette's insistent rambling. "Sora, what are you hiding behind your back?"

Sora flinched a little at being caught red handed. "Promise you won't tell anyone?"

Riku gave him a curious look; there was something logical in brain telling him that nothing good would come from this. When whatever behind Sora's back quacked; it gave him further reason not to be stupid enough to agree with the brunette. But the way Sora was looking up at him with his large blue eyes watering, and his lip quivering, made it so that Riku couldn't help but agree.

"Sure, whatever;" Riku mumbled crossing his arms over his chest.

Sora bit his lip and pulled the duckling out from behind his back. Yes you read that right; a duckling. In Sora's hands was a small yellow duckling that was happily perched in the brunette's hands. "I found him wandering alone outside the building. I've named him Donald and I've decided to raise him as my own."

Riku couldn't help it, as hard as he tried, he couldn't keep a straight face. First his eye twitched as he stared down at the small bundle of feathers. The more he stared at the two, the more he felt laughter bubbling up. He let out his laugh gripping the door frame to steady him as he laughed at the ridiculous situation he had accidently gotten himself into.

He calmed himself down after a few moments of laughter. He let a few left over laughs at Sora's large offended pout. "Do you have any idea how to take care of a duck?"

Sora looked down at the small yellow duckling in his arms. "Not a clue." He gently petted the ducks head, lulling the thing to sleep. "Will you help me Riku?" He looked up at the silverette with his large puppy eyes again.

Riku's eye twitched at the look. He was normally very resistant to puppy dog looks. Axel and Demyx tried to pull the look quite often on the silverette, which got them nowhere. But like moments ago; Riku found it hard for him to resist when the small brunette gave him the look.

He let out a large sigh and nodded. "Come in, I'll google the proper care for ducks." He said unlocking his apartment door and letting the now smiling and bouncy brunette in.

0-0-0

Roxas couldn't stop it; his eye was twitching with quite the vengeance as he stared at the redhead lying on his couch. He had woken up to find the redhead and taken up residency there; his feet propped up on the arm. "Axel why are you here?" He asked trying not to sound as annoyed as he felt.

Axel peeked open one of his eyes to look at the blonde. "Riku and Sora are making a ruckus in our apartment. I fled here in hopes to get a little sleep before having to practice all night."

Roxas stared at the redhead unsure of how to handle this situation. When he decided to move into an apartment with Sora, he never imagined that he would have to deal with neighbors trying to sleep in his living room.

"So that means you can break into my apartment and sleep on my couch?" Roxas asked rubbing his temples trying to stop the oncoming headache. "Go back to your apartment Axel."

Axel pouted at the blonde; he was exhausted having gotten maybe 5 hours of sleep the past few days. "Please Roxy, I'm a light sleeper and they're being super noisy! I don't even know what they're doing honestly; just lots of disturbing noises keep coming from Riku's bedroom."

Axel hadn't meant for his statement to sound completely dirty. By disturbing he meant in the literal sense; the noises were disrupting his sleep. Not that they were gross and mentally disturbing; but guess which conclusion Roxas jumped too?

If you guessed perverted, then you were right. Roxas' eyes widened in horror over the idea that his little innocent cousin was being molested by the quite silverette. He let out a distressed noise before he rushed to grab his shoes.

"What the hell Axel! My cousin is being molested and you left Riku to do it!" He shouted throwing the nearest thing at the redhead.

Axel yelped and ducked behind the couch; the shoe Roxas threw barely missing his face. "What the hell Rox. I don't know what you're thinking but…" He was cut off by the blonde running out of the apartment.

Axel sighed and pulled himself up off the couch. So much for the nap; he figured he should stop the blonde before he made himself look incredibly stupid. Not that he was trying all that hard; in all honesty he just wanted to see how this scene would unfold.

Roxas couldn't believe what he was seeing. He had stormed into the apartment across the hall only to find Sora chasing a duckling around the apartment while Riku looked ready to hit the brunette. Sora couldn't for the life of him catch the little yellow bird. He was waddling after it chanting "come back Donald, come back."

Roxas looked between the two, then over to the redhead who sauntered in after him. He frowned and smacked Axel on the arm. "I thought they were doing the nasty!" Axel winced in pain, rubbing his arm.

Roxas' declaration caught the attention of Riku, Sora, and even the duckling. Sora frowned scooping up the duck while it was distracted. "You thought what Roxas? That Riku and I were…." He blushed and looked over at the silverette, who looked just as bothered. Sure Riku was attractive, but this was the first time they themselves had ever really talked.

"What the hell Roxy! Do you think I'm some kind of slut?" Sora scolded his blonde cousin.

Roxas gave him an apologetic look. "No I don't…I thought…"

Riku crossed his arms over his chest. "So it was me, you thought I was some dirty pervert."

Roxas laughed obviously uncomfortable with the situation he'd found himself in. Axel couldn't help but smirk and lean against the door. This scene was defiantly worth his precious sleep time.

Roxas huffed crossing his own arms. "Well when Axel said you were making disturbing noises…" Sure he should have let the redhead finish his sentence; and assuming did make an ass out of u and me. But the redhead and silverette were pretty much strangers. He couldn't leave his poor cousin in the potential clutches of danger!

Sora sighed; "god Roxas. I'm a big boy, if I want to be taken advantage of, than you have no right to say anything about it. Now apologize to Riku, he's been very nice to me." Sora scolded. It was moments like this that reminded Roxas that Sora wasn't this small little kid that need protecting anymore.

Roxas looked over at Riku who still looked a little miffed at being called a pervert. "Sorry…" He said scratching the back of his head.

Riku shrugged; he wasn't going to make a big deal out of it all.

Silence had taken over the room, everyone trying to recover from the awkward situation that had just happened; well all but Axel. Roxas was just about to question why Sora had a duck when said brunette let out a whine of desperation.

"Oh my god Riku! Donald just crapped on me!" That definitely cut through the tension. The other three bystanders started laugh at Sora in distress. He ran to the kitchen to clean himself and Donald. "This isn't funny!" He yelled the whole way.

0-0-0

The venue Demyx and Axel's band were playing at wasn't huge. It was a small live house that a lot of local bands played at. When Sora, Roxas, and Riku got there, the place was practically empty. It was a half hour before the doors opened; and there was quite a line outside the doors. They got in because they were friends of Axel and Demyx.

Desert of Nobody—Axel and Demyx's band—was the first band to play that night. So the three of them stood close to the front of the stage; with every intention to cheer on their friends with everything they had. Well that was Sora's plan at least. Roxas and Riku were only there because they would never live it down if they had missed the show.

Soras chatted with Riku excitedly as they watched Axel, Demyx, Zexion and Luxord set up their instruments to do a quick sound check. By that time the doors were opened and people started to file into the room. Soon it was little humid, and the air was filled with the smell of incense and the excited murmurs of the audience. The main band playing was apparently a popular local band, that's who everyone was there to see. Axel just hoped that a few of them were converted to Desert of Nobody fans.

When it was time to start the show, Axel let out a loud call, catching the attention of the audience. They all stared up at the redhead that was clad in black. From his ratty black shirt, all the way down to his ratty combat boots. The only thing with color on the singer was his flaming red hair and acid green eyes. It was enough for him to stand out and capture the curiosity of those watching him; including Roxas.

Roxas wasn't sure what it was; maybe it was all the lights, maybe it was the buzz of the crowd. But the redhead looked beautiful up on that stage. His porcelain skin glowing, giving a contrast to his dark wardrobe and piercing eyes. When he started to sing, it felt like the air was knocked out of the little blonde.

Axel's voice was powerful at moments and sweet at others. His stage presence was entertaining as he pranced about the stage, swinging the mic around. Roxas found himself shucking in air when he swung the cord around his neck. It looked dangerous, but the crowd loved it.

As Roxas watched Axel perform, he felt his heart start to speed up. Before he could catch his thoughts and think rationally, he had fallen for the enigmatic redhead.

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